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Photo by Jeff Noble

         -- Walter R. Rogers, Mary Babcock Reynolds Foundation

Leadership Sanctuary – Peer to Peer Dialogue

Community Building

Innovative Planning and Breakthrough Thinking

Qualitative Research to Determine Needs, Wants, Viable Strategy

Convening Stakeholders with Opposing Views

Leadership Institutes and Retreats

Annual Executive Retreat for the top leaders of a large international
association.
Our leadership retreat created the space and safety, in a truly frightening
organizational situation, for us to develop trust in each other to walk into the
unknown together.  It linked us to the best within us and to a higher power
that could support us.  Being together in the time and space of our retreat
created a powerful foundation for our new organization.
              Janet McCallen, Executive Director, Financial Planning Association
 

Leadership Sanctuary a pre-conference event or ASAE's Annual Strategic
Leadership Forum for senior association executives.
Marybeth helped make the entire Strategic Leadership Forum so much
more than a series of meetings among peers. She helped us create an
intimate learning community that enhanced the event by connecting us to
each other.  This helped us link to the Forum’s program content in a very
meaningful way -- much deeper than I've experienced in a past conference.
She catalyzed an annual event into a lasting experience. The Leadership
Sanctuary is the primary reason I returned to the conference the following year.
               Gale S. Wood, CAE, Principal, COMET Consulting and Coaching
 

Qualitative Research of Member Wants and Needs reveals significant patterns
and innovative possibilities. 
I have never read research with so much heart in it.  You captured what our
members are thinking and living, and you wrote it so that we know how they feel. 
You said things like, “you can stand on your head and offer free registration to
conventions, but they still won’t come.”  We all remember that almost verbatim
2.5 years later.  You also said, “These are ordinary people trying to do extraordinary
things using old, worn-out equipment.”  Writing like that enabled us to feel what our
members were feeling.  That is one major reason, in my opinion, why this research
was so widely and well accepted, and why it was the start of reinventing our
association.  We are still using it almost three years later…
            Association executive, $15 million trade association
 

Planning Retreat brings forward a new, non-traditional, and dynamic planning
document that serves the group well for several years.
Marybeth's unique style and approach to strategic planning helped us all (staff,
volunteers and members) realize, in a very deep way, the value that our
association holds for us. Through a series of introspective and interactive
experiences, she helped us peel away the onion layers of who we are  and how
we can best help our members be better, more complete professionals. By
leading us through exercises in vision mind mapping,  articulating the association's
 core values and its envisioned future, and culminating in a stirring yet cost
effective multimedia debut at our annual conference, Marybeth brought our
strategic plan to life in a compelling way.
            Executive Director, Professional Membership Association
 

Wingspread Conference on Media Violence a 3-day conference convenes
various stakeholders on the issue of media violence (motion picture industry,
television, educators, researchers, and consumer groups opposing violence). 
Wingspread, Marybeth, and co-facilitator Maridel Moulton, were the perfect
combination – a conference center dedicated to convening thought leaders, and
facilitators whose commitment to helping people hear and understand each
other led to fundamentally changed participant perspectives.    
              Suzanne Plihcik, Past President, Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.